Pad



' Oct. 20, 1953 M. DOLL ET AL 2,656,291

PAD

Filed April 2. 1951 Martin 00/! Brendan 1.. Dail IN V EN TOR$.

BY file-Wm.

WW 2p Patented oct. 20, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE N. (3.,assignors to Spaugh Paper Company, Incorporated, High Point, N'- 0., acorporation of North Carolina Application April 2, 1951, Serial No.218,7 82

5'Claims. i

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in pads and theprimary object of thepresent invention is to provide a combinationpackaging and upholstering padwhereby furniture and the like may beshipped without marring, scratching or other such harmful damage.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide apackaging and upholstering pad composed of one or more sheets ofexpanded. flexible material that is combined together and preserved inthe form of a pad or blanket by a sleeve or securing means.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a soft, pliable,resilient pad composed of superimposed layers or plies of expanded sheetmaterial, such as paper, plastic, metal foil or the like.

A still further aim of the present invention is to provide a pad forprotecting furniture and the like during the shipment thereof that isextremely simple and practical in construction, inexpensive tomanufacture, and otherwise well adapted for the purposes for which thesame is intended.

Other objects and advantages reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, wherein likenumerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure l is a plan view of a flexible sheet of material having a seriesof slits therein;

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 but showing the material expandedin a direction perpendicular to the rows of slits; and

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the present pad and with the coveringfolded back to illustrate the expanded sheet material filler.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein for the purpose ofillustration, there is disclosed a preferred embodiment of the pres entinvention, the numeral I0 represents a flexible sheet material, such aspaper, plastic, metal foil, rubber or the like, that is formed withparallel rows of longitudinally spaced slits I2 with the slits of onerow being staggered with respect to the slits of an adjacent row. Theend of each slit of one row are disposed adjacent the middle portion ofthe slits of an adjacent row, as shown in Figure 1 of the drawings, sothat as the sheet material I0 is stretched in a direction perpendicularto the rows of slits, the material will expand as illustrated in Figure2 and form diamond-shaped openings 13.

in s.

2 One or more sheets of the expanded material [0 is combined togetherand preserved in the form of a pad or blanket by various means orwrapped in an unslit sheet or covering [4 of similar material and sealedby gluing, taping or the like.

When the expanded material is wrapped or enclosed in a sleeve such asthe sleeve 14 shown in Figure 3, the finished pad I6 is quite resistantto abrasion and compensates for the rough texture of the padding itself.If neither of the conditions are considered important, the plies may beheld together by spot embossing under extreme pressure, the spotsranging from onequarter of an inch in diameter, and covering the entirepad at intervals of three to six inches or however often is required. Inthe case of an expanded heat-sealing film or sheet, the same result maybe obtained with less pressure by the application of the proper heat atthe point of embossing.

The principle of slitting and expanding sheet material has been used inpaper toys and for decorating purposes. Its use as a filter material isdisclosed in U. S. Patent No. 2,070,073, and a machine for slitting andexpanding is contained in U. S. Patent No. 2,294,478. However, the useof expanded sheets for padding and insulation, such as disclosed inFigure 3, provides an extremely resilient and practical pad for theshipment of articles, such as furniture or the like.

Although various means have been discussed for joining adjacent pliestogether in order to form the completed pad, obviously, other methodscould be employed, for example, the plies may be held together by loosestitches spaced far apart, using any economical sewing thread or yarn.

The sheet material 10 may be torn or cut to any desired length or size.Any suitable material may be employed for the covering M with the filleror sheet material 10 held within the covering I4 by securing the edgesof the covering together by adhesive or the like.

In view of the foregoing description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, it is believed that a clear understanding of thedevice will be quite apparent to those skilled in this art. A moredetailed description is accordingly deemed unnecessary.

It is to be understood, however, that even though there is herein shownand described a preferred embodiment of the invention, the same issusceptible to certain changes fully compre- 2 hended by the spirit ofthe invention as herein described and the scope of the appended claims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A resilient packing pad comprising a, plurality of superimposedlayers of slitted, expanded paper with adjacent layers in contact witheach other, and a covering enclosing the layers.

2. A resilient packing pad comprising a plurality of sheets of expandedpaper having slits therein and means joining the layers together andpreserving the sheets in the form of a pad with adjacent sheets incontact with each other.

3. A resilient packing pad comprising one or more sheets of expandedflexible material having parallel rows of openings with the openings ofone row staggered relative to the openings in an adjacent row, and animperforate sheet of flexible material wrapped about the expandedflexible material.

4. The combination of claim 2 wherein said means includes sewing thread.

5. A resilient packing pad comprising a plurality of sheets of expandedmaterial having slits References Cited in the file of this patent UNITEDSTATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,917,456 Mickelson July 11, 19331,999,282 Clemens Aug. 30, 1935 2,106,246 Fourness Jan. 25, 19382,261,307 Still Nov. 4, 1941 2,284,663 Kiefier June 2, 1942 2,489,541Read Nov. 29, 1949 2,545,710 Snyder Mar. 20, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS NumberCountry Date 563,361 Germany Nov. 4, 1932 358,824 Italy May 2, 1938

3. A RESILIENT PACKING PAD COMPRISING ONE OR MORE SHEETS OF EXPANDEDFLEXIBLE MATERIAL HAVING PARALLEL ROWS OF OPENINGS WITH THE OPENINGS OFONE ROW STAGGERED RELATIVE TO THE OPENING IN AN ADJACENT ROW, AND ANIMPERFORATE SHEET OF FLEXIBLE MATERIAL WRAPPED ABOUT THE EXPANDEDFLEXIBLE MATERIAL.